Promises to you, and you, even YOU, and me.

Ever notice how so many of the promises in the Bible are addressed to a specific person, or a specific group of people, but yet we accept them as promises for us? I wondered about this.. Even though I know in my heart that these promises are true and apply to me, I wanted to know how it figures, such as if I were to try to explain it to someone, what would I say?

Well, I stumbled across an answer last night!

There's likely multiple passages in scripture that make this clear, but this just happens to be the few that my Bible fell open to last night, as I somewhat randomly picked a place to read and just started reading.

Galations 3:22 But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.

Galations 3:26-29 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Hallelujah! I belong to Christ! Jump for joy!

Utter randomness.

cotton candy : love stories : snow cones : blankets : pj pants : hugs and kisses from my little one : conversations with my 2 year old about random things : conversations about life with my love : elevation church : frozen yogurt : chocolate necco's : my mom : avacados: unexpected emails containing good things : my dad: yoga : glitter : pretty scrapbook papers : un-posed pictures : heaters : fictional books : i love you's : friends : funny, light-hearted movies : new clothes : pink sugar perfume : experimenting with new recipes : lemon scents : baking : people eating food I've made : ballet : wise words : letters : David Crowder Band : surprising someone : warm, cozy sweaters : helping someone in need : Prince : presents : cupcakes with tall frosting : friends : getting packages in the mail : chefs suggestions : people who help keep me grounded : a clean house : unexplainable joy : smiling babies : snuggling : making others happy : my family : back rubs : desserts of almost any kind : getting lost in a good book : nachos : scrapbooking : peace and quiet : chicken enchiladas in a white sauce : sprinkles : singing loudly to a good song in the privateness of my car : doing something good for my body : my husband : my son : online shopping : naps : gentle nudges from God : sixlets : sharp cheddar cheese : the funny things my boy does : frosting : Proverbs : books on CD : music that makes me want to break out of my shell : knowing the solution to the problem : feeling loved : showing love : God .

Perfectly imperfect.

Have you ever paused to think of how incredibly boring life would be if everything came easy? Imagine... If you never had to work hard for anything, or push through pain. If you were able to easily accomplish, with perfection, any and all endeavors you went after.. Slam dunk, every time. Triple pirouette, flawlessly done. Warrior pose, firmly grounded. Full marathon, first place.

Imagine a friendship or a relationship that came easy and quickly, and imagine how shallow and weak it would be. The time and energy we invest in something will give value to the final outcome. Because of this, we can take pride in our small achievements. There is depth to them.

No matter how well we can do something, or how skilled we are at something, there's always some measure of improvement we can strive for. We will never be perfect. We can always work to become even stronger than we even think is possible. And for this, I am grateful! Where we think there are limits, we don't even know! Only God knows where the limit lies, and with Him, anything is possible!

The phrase, "No pain, no gain", comes to mind too.

Thank God He made us as He did, with plenty of room for improvement!

Drown your iPhone.

"Make a conscious choice to move the attention of your anxious heart away from the waves and direct it to the One who walks on them." -Henri Nouwen

What might happen if you shift your attention away from the waves to the One who walks on them?
What concrete thing could you do to help redirect your attention?

- excerpt from SOLO.

Well, for starters, you could dunk your iPhone into a large bowl of water....

I've been having an 'off' day. Actually, quite a few 'off' days in a row. Like something is missing. Or more like something I previously had has been lost. I started asking myself what it could be, what has changed. A thought came to mind that maybe I should de-Face(book) for a while. And de-email. And de-Solitaire. And de-FML. Well, no sooner did this thought come to my mind that I heard a plunking sound. Yeah, you probably guessed it. My iPhone... my pride and joy, my vehicle for these distractions... had drowned itself.

I was shocked, but in all honestly, I wasn't completely and totally upset, which is surprising. Of all the phones I've had, I haven't liked one as much as I have liked this one. It was kind of like I knew I wouldn't really be missing out on that much without it though. Sure, it's a great source of entertainment and I absolutely love it, but I know in my mind that it's not a necessity. I can go back to writing my grocery list on paper. And I can start singing the songs in my head when I run instead of listening to my playlist. And people who email me or text me will certainly survive if they don't receive an instantaneous reply back.

So I took my 'off' self to bed. I was already feeling like burying my head under the blankets and staying there for a few days. In addition to this feeling, some other things were nagging at me too but I knew it was too late to change the course of those things. I just wanted to cry. But, if you know me at all, you know that I don't express outward emotion very well and my tears are usually shed internally. So, I don't cry. Instead, I decided to do a little reading in hopes that it would lift my spirits a little.

Well, tonights devotional did offer some guidance. It also offered a challenge. What would happen if I shift my attention away from the waves and instead put my attention on the One who walks on the waves? Hopefully I'm about to find out!

Maybe I'm the shopping cart?

Is 'the world' a major flip-flopper lately, or is it just me? Is it really just my own attitudes and perceptions that is changing things? I really can't tell. I feel like I'm genuine though, but just because I feel like that, it's not fair for me to point a finger and assume 'the world' is not.

Wait a minute.. Stop, stop, stop!

Why am I concerning myself with 'the world'? These things are so small and petty in the big scheme of things. Why am I letting this bother me and take up valuable thinking time with something so small? 'The world', though? Small? Not hardly! But I think maybe it's time that I give myself a hard jolt and refocus on something that's even bigger than the world! He, Jesus, is bigger than the world! It's about Him, and not about other people. Refocus! Refocus!!!

So the other night I was sitting quietly reading through a daily devotional. It was about listening for God's voice. The 'action' part of it was to sit still and quiet and try to listen for God's voice yourself. So I did it. I don't know if it was because I was getting sleepy and maybe subconciously thinking about my To Do List, but I had this image come into my mind. I'm not going to move away and start my own country over it, but I think it's loose interpretation could be beneficial in my life. The image was of a shopping cart. The cart was moving, but the back end of it, the end you push from, got caught on something. This part didn't move beyond the thing it was caught on, but the front end did. It continued on for a bit. The cart sort of stretched.

So, I can think of this as just a reminder to watch where I'm going while pushing around the shopping cart so I can be most efficient while in the store, or I can see it another way. Maybe I'm the shopping cart. Perhaps I'm getting hung up on something and it's keeping me from fully and completely going where I need to go, and in the process, is stretching myself thin over a number of the things in my life.

Maybe I'm putting too much effort into the things in life that don't matter, thinking that these are the things that will help me to grow, but in actuality, I need something else. I need food. Spiritual food. And I'm not going to get it from marking a bunch of things off my To Do List or trying to make things happen on my own. Maybe this is a portion of the answer to my prayers about guidance in finding my place. Rather than giving me a specific here's-where-you-go answer, this is a here's-where-you-don't-go answer. Or maybe I should just stop trying so hard because things will happen in due time. In God's time.